Dodgers Opinion: Friedman Took a Chance on Tyler Glasnow, but So Far, It Has Backfired

LOS ANGELES — After the conclusion of the 2023 National League Division Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers were at a crossroads. Three straight seasons of postseason failure, not returning to the Fall Classic. What needed to change?

In back-to-back years, the Dodgers lost to inferior teams in the first round. In 2021, the San Diego Padres shocked the baseball world by taking down the 111-win Dodgers in four games. In 2023, Los Angeles suffered the same fate, this time getting swept by the 84-win Diamondbacks.

While multiple factors contributed to the Dodgers’ loss in the 2023 postseason, one significant factor was the starting pitching, or the lack thereof.

In just three games, Clayton Kershaw, Bobby Miller, and Lance Lynn combined for a 63.90 ERA in 4.2 innings, a situation the Dodgers did not want to replicate. That led Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman to explore starting rotation options that offseason.

Friedman would do just that and more, signing Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million contract, the largest deal for a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball history. He would add depth with the 1-year signing of James Paxton.

But perhaps the most controversial move that winter was the trade for Tampa Bay Rays ace Tyler Glasnow in exchange for young righty Ryan Pepiot and outfielder Jonny DeLuca.

In typical fashion, the Rays were looking to shed payroll for the upcoming 2024 regular season. Tyler Glasnow was in the final year of his 2-year, $30.5 million extension and was a prime candidate to be moved.

The Dodgers obliged, trading for Glasnow and making the trade contingent on the righty signing a 5-year, 136.5 million extension. This was a massive risk for someone who averaged just sixty-six innings pitched from 2016 until 2023.

Glasnow’s injury history was extensive and particularly well-known around the sport. During the 2023 season, Glasnow missed extended time with an oblique injury that held the righty under twenty-two starts.

Glasnow missed nearly the entire 2022 season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery before returning at the end of the year for the Tampa Bay Rays’ Wild Card Series round.

These injuries have not stopped since Tyler Glasnow arrived with the Dodgers last season. In just a short span, he has had an extensive injury history for Los Angeles. In April, it was cramps similar to the ones he suffered from this season. In July, it was a back injury that placed him on the 15-day injured list until August.

The final nail in the coffin last season was right elbow tendonitis, which ended his year and forced him to miss the final month of the regular season and all of October. This season, it was more of the same, with lower leg cramps in his start in the Lone Star State of Texas, and in his final game, he left the game early against his former club, the Pittsburgh Pirates, with right shoulder inflammation.

Clearly, the team knew Glasnow could showcase injury concerns due to the vast number of injuries he had over the last six years of his career, but Dodgers General Manager Brandon Gomes was hopeful about his future when asked about it during the 2024 offseason.

“I think a lot of it is more about betting on how he’s feeling, how good of an athlete he is, and our performance and medical group feeling like he’s in a good position to kind of take off,” Gomes said.

“From all of our conversations and betting on Tyler, the person, and competitor, we felt very good about it.”

Even Glasnow himself felt as much, believing that his injury history was pinpointed to one particular elbow that derailed his career.

“I mean, given the amount of innings and the amount of injuries the previous years, I think, to say that is probably fair,” Glasnow said of being criticized for not being able to stay healthy. “I think that, for me, the majority of the innings that I’ve missed had been related to the same (elbow) injury.

Glasnow’s first year in Dodger Blue wasn’t bad per se, with the righty tossing a new career high in games started (22) and innings pitched (134), including posting a respectable 3.49 ERA, 0.948 WHIP, 112 ERA+, and 1.9 bWAR.

Due to his dominant first half last season, Glasnow also made his first Major League All-Star team and was poised to take another massive step in his career, being involved in Cy Young talk throughout the National League.

Overall, Glasnow’s Dodger tenure has been decent. The righty has a 3.61 ERA and 0.987 WHIP across 152.0 innings pitched, including twenty-seven starts. Still, his failure to remain healthy is the exact gamble many across the industry pushed with Glasnow.

The question is never whether Glasnow is good or not, but whether he can stay healthy. The Dodgers took a chance and are paying the price so far.

Not many teams around the league can deal with the injury-laden rotation that the Dodgers seem to deal with annually. But because of the depth through trade, free agency, and drafting, the Dodgers are able to stay afloat.

For now, the plan for Tyler Glasnow, according to Dave Roberts, is 10-14 days without throwing; after that, he’ll be reevaluated for further steps.

If you’re looking at it as a glass half full, you’d tell yourself to be thankful the injured list placement happened in April rather than August of last year. And you’d be right. However, Glasnow makes millions to take the ball every fifth day.

With Glasnow’s injury and the early exits, the Dodgers’ already overworked bullpen—which led the league in innings pitched at 136.0 as of May 1st—has been hampered. This has caused a flurry of corresponding roster moves and a massive headache for Dave Roberts, who has to manage around it.

Take it from someone who’s been on the Tyler Glasnow hype train even before he arrived here: I’m flustered by the injury chaos. So, for now, all we can do is hope that the time off allows Glasnow to heal and hopefully contribute come October, but if history is an indicator, don’t bet the house on it.

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